Angel Beats! Reborn
by Master of The Wild Card
Summary: A retelling of Angel Beats with my own touch added to it. Introducing a new character to the series; Makoto Yuuki. Watch as an Anime fan finds himself in the Afterlife from his favorite Anime series and tries to discover the reason he's there to begin with. Watch as he aids the Afterlife Battlefront in all the missions that you remember from the series and befriends them as well...
1. Chapter 1: Departure

Angel Beats: The Tale Reborn

Chapter 1: Departure

_**Alright guys, this will be my newest fan fiction that I'm doing just because I was bored.**_

_**This will be basically the retelling of Angel Beats but with my own OC added into the mix. **_

_**The OC is a huge anime fan and has watched Angel Beats. But when he finds himself in the Afterlife from the anime, he sees that he has to fight alongside his heroes to discover why he's there in order to leave. Here's a small bio:**_

_**Name: Makoto Yuuki.**_

_**Age: 17**_

_**Death Date: January 1, 2009.**_

_**Cause of Death: Died in a car accident along with a few others.**_

_**Personality: A serious yet nerd-like individual.**_

_**Appearance**_

_**Hair Color/Style: Similar to that of Ban Midou's hair (Ban Mido is from Get Backers, by the way) but an inch and a half longer. And is the same silvery white as Kanade's.**_

_**Eye Color: Teal.**_

_**Face: Makoto has the same facial structure as Future Trunks from DBZ. He also has a small scar on his upper left cheek from an accident (that involved cooking).**_

_**Specialties: Swordplay, Martial Arts. Makoto is also a bit of a computer wiz.**_

_**Now, there will be some spoilers in the story. So if you are planning on watching the anime or are currently watching it but are not finished, then DO NOT READ THIS! But if you've seen all the episodes, then by all means read this.**_

_**Oh yeah, and I'll be changing/paraphrasing lines or scenes from the episodes to make it more original.**_

_**Enjoy! **_**:D**

I suddenly opened my eyes to see myself looking up at a full moon. I sat up and looked around; I appeared to be in the middle of what was a massive school campus. And the strange thing about it was the place seemed familiar to me.

That was when I saw her; a girl roughly a year younger than me who had her back turned to me. She was wearing a typical girls' school uniform, thigh-highs and all. Her hair was short and had a purplish-magenta tint to it. There was also a headband with a green ribbon attached to it in her hair as well. The most outstanding thing is that she was aiming what appeared to be either a Sniper Rifle or an M16 down into another part of the campus.

Then, I looked over to my left slightly; there lying on the ground was a boy who was also about a year younger than me, with short red hair and was wearing a boys' black school uniform. That was when it hit me, and I kid you not when I say that I was so excited that I jumped a few decent feet into the air.

"I can't believe this! This is so cool! I'm actually in the Afterlife School!" I said excitedly. "But wait…then that means…That crash…" I said as I stopped my outburst and began to have memories of what had happened who knows how long ago it seemed. "There was no way I could have survived that….then that means that….I'm actually….dead."

"Bingo." said a voice from behind me. I quickly turned around to see that the girl from before was staring at me. "Oh, and by the way, what the hell was that outburst just now about?" She asked.

"Oh-uh, nothing, nothing at all. So umm…who are you?" I asked, even though I already knew. You see, I was in the Afterlife at the moment. A place after death that allows dead youths like ourselves to have the youthful experiences we never had, and to help us overcome any sort of lingering emotions that we may have had when we died. This is the Afterlife from the Anime; Angel Beats, which I just loved so much when I watched it.

"My name is Yuri Nakamura, but most people call me Yurippe. What about you?" Yuri asked.

"Me, I'm Makoto, Makoto Yuuki. Nice to meet you Yurippe." I said. "And by the way, you don't really need to explain anything to me; I already know the whole thing. You're the leader and founder of the SSS, or the Battlefront that always seems to change names."

"How do you know this already, you just got here?" Yuri asked. Crap, I needed to think of a lie and fast.

"I-uh-I'm from the future, so that's how I know already. When I died, I for some reason came here to the Afterlife in this time period." I lied. "Actually, there are a lot of things that I know. For example, I know about Angel…" I smirked in a way that made me seem devious. Yuri turned around at the mention of Angel. Yuri ran over to me and was practically ridding me of my personal space.

"You know about Angel? Do you know anything that we could use against her by chance?" Yuri asked excitedly.

"Well, if I were to tell you, then I could mess up the timeline, now wouldn't I?" I asked teasingly. I was actually starting to like this whole 'I'm from the future' lie.

"Screw the timeline, I want information on Angel." Yuri said with enthusiasm. Man, I knew that this was the goal of the Battlefront to beat Angel, but this is just ridiculous.

"I'm not going to tell you anything right now, because an idea just popped in my head. I'm going to go and sneak into Angels' lair. There's something in there that I'll need." I said as I began to walk off. But before I did that, I turned my head and added something else.

"Oh yeah and when he wakes up…" I said pointing to the body that I knew was Yuzuru Otonashi's. "…Don't let him go down there or do anything else stupid while I'm gone." After that, I walked off again. I walked throughout the campus until I found the building that Angels' room was in. I snuck into the building and found Angels' room by sheer memory undetected. Luckily, Angel hadn't locked the door for some reason and I was able to get inside before closing the door. I walked over to her computer and saw that it was still on.

"Let's see…Aha! I found it, Angel Player…" I said as I found the reason I was here. I opened the program and started to look through the contents.

"Okay, so this program can do anything to anyone in this world, including humans with souls like Angel, the Battlefront, or myself. So if I were to make some 'adjustments' to myself, I could give myself Guard Skills like Angel." I began to go through the program until I had managed to figure it out and began to make these 'adjustments'.

"Okay, for now, I'll just give myself a few Guard skills. I'm thinking; Hand Sonic, that's a must, Distortion, and Delay. I'm not bothering with Harmonics for obvious reasons." I said quietly as I completed my task.

Afterwards, I closed the program and snuck out of the building once more. I hurried back to where Yuri and Yuzuru were to find that the latter had already woken up and was headed down to where Angel was. I ran up to Yuri and she saw that I was a bit irritated.

"I thought I asked you to make sure he _doesn't_ do anything stupid." I said.

"I tried, but he just kept insisting on going down there to talk to Angel." Yuri replied. "And honestly, I can see why you wanted me to keep him from doing anything stupid."

"And you are, by the way?" I heard a voice from behind me ask. I turned around to see that Hinata was there as well. "Yurippe, I thought that there was only one new guy."

"Well, he was actually here as well but he left to go and do something in Angels' lair, which he can lead us to later." Yuri replied.

"I'll tell you all about myself later, but for now, I have to go and stop a very stupid boy from doing a very stupid thing." I said as I hurried down the stairs to catch up with Yuzuru. By the time I had reached the bottom, he was already talking with Angel. That was when I knew exactly what was going to happen next when I heard him say those words that a normal person would regret almost instantly in this sort of situation,

"Then prove it, smart-ass! Prove that I can't die since I already….did?" Yuzuru said as Angel walked slowly towards him.

"Hand Sonic." Angel softly said. Almost immediately, a blade materialized on her arm before she went straight up to Yuzuru and stabbed him dead in the chest. He fell to the ground. I already knew that he would wake up in the infirmary, so I wasn't worried about that. Angel then noticed me a bit further away from her and cocked her head to the side in confusion.

"What about you…do you wish to have proof as well?" Angel asked me in her usual emotionless manner.

"No thanks, I'm already aware of all this, but I would like to see if you can try and hit me." I said as a matter of fact. Angel raised an eyebrow at this.

"But…you do not have any weapon…it would be too simple for me to do such a thing to someone who cannot defend themselves…." Angel replied.

"Don't worry about me, I have a weapon." I said with a smirk. Just then, my voice became semi computerized as I spoke four words. "Guard Skill…Hand Sonic." Suddenly, a blade similar to that of a longsword appeared on my arm before Angels' eyes.

"You can use Hand Sonic…why…?" Angel asked, obviously confused. "This is rather strange…"

"Not only that, but I have two other Guard Skills as well." I replied.

"Which ones…?" Angel asked.

"Now, why would I tell you that?" I said cockily. I ran forward and attempted to stab her with my blade but she jumped out of the way. She then tried to do the same but I managed to dodge that as well.

Immediately afterwards, I lunged in and got a hit in on her shoulder, getting a good slice in it. Angel stepped back a bit but did not give any indication that she was in pain, which didn't surprise me one bit, given the hits that she'd taken from the Battlefront when I had watched the Anime before, Angel has shown to have a high tolerance of pain.

"I am leaving now…" Angel said as she turned around and began walking away.

"So, you're scared are you?" I asked her. Angel turned around and answered.

"No. It is getting late…so I am going back to my dorm. As the Student Body President, I would advise that you do the same. "That was all she said before she turned and walked away once more. I heard Yuri calling me as she and Hinata hurried down the stairs and stopped in front of me.

"That was amazing, Yuuki, you drove back Angel. And what's more is that you can use Hand Sonic." Yuri said excitedly. "How would you like to join the Not Yet Dead Battlefront? We could really use someone like you to help with our cause."

"Sure, but work on the name, because frankly, it needs some work." I replied. I bent down and picked up Yuzuru's body and carried it off.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Yuri asked.

"To take Yu-I mean the other newbie to the infirmary." I replied, making sure not to reveal that I knew Yuzuru's name. "Oh, and by the way, if you want, you can call me Makoto. I have a feeling that we're going to be allies for a while, so you might as well start now rather than later." After that, I walked off with Yuzuru's body and eventually found the infirmary. I placed him on one of the beds there and left. I figured that there was no real point in staying.

…_**...**_

It was the next morning, and I was standing around with the rest of the Battlefront members in the Anti-Angel Strategy Headquarters-basically the principals' office. Well, I was standing around while the others were arguing about the name for the Battlefront as I knew they would. By this point, Yuzuru had come here and was hit by the trap at the door, and he was currently on one of the couches unconscious.

Multiple names had been thrown around at this point. Like the 'You're the One Who's Gonna' Die Battlefront' and the 'Flashback Battlefront' and the 'Suicide Core battlefront', names that all completely sucked in my opinion. Then we all noticed that Yuzuru was awake and staring at us.

"Hey, it looks like that guy's up." Oyama remarked.

"Huh? He's conscious again?" Yuri asked. "I told him to think of something; maybe he's got a name." Yuri walked over to the couch where Yuzuru was sitting up and looked straight at him. "You've had plenty of time, so tell us what you came up with."

"What do you mean?" Yuzuru asked.

"You were supposed to come up with a name for Not Yet Dead Battlefront." Yuri said.

"Screw You Battlefront." Yuzuru replied coldly. For a second, I thought that I was going to burst out laughing. But I decided to shut up for the sake of not being attacked by the others.

"Man, you must think you've got some guts smarting off to Yurippe." Fujimaki said, readying the wooden stick he held in his hands for combat.

"Leave me out of this!" Yuzuru said as he stood up and pointed at Fujimaki.

"What!?" Fujimaki asked.

"What's with you guys?" Yuzuru asked. "Don't drag me into this. I want to get obliterated ASAP!"

"You do? Even though you exist here right now?" Takamatsu said, pushing up his glasses.

"Yeah, that's right." Yuzuru replied.

"I already explained things." Yuri interjected.

"You're willing to get obliterated without a fight?" Takamatsu asked.

"Yeah!" Yuzuru said.

"You're willing to become a Water Flea?" Takamatsu asked.

"Sure-uh, a Water Flea?!" Yuzuru exclaimed.

"Ha! Did you think humans were the only ones with souls? You ass." Fujimaki asked amusedly.

"This is so stupid." Shiina said from the dark corner that she was hiding in. Yuzuru turned in alarm at the sound of her voice.

"You might get reborn as a barnacle, or even a Hermit Crab, or a Sea Slater. It could happen." Matsushita remarked.

"What? No way." Yuzuru said.

"You're so shocked; you haven't even questioned why it's limited to sea life. There's no particular reason really." Takamatsu said, once again straightening his glasses.

"Go ahead; get the heck out of here!" Fujimaki said while waving the wooden stick he carried around for emphasis. "You're going to listen to Angel and get reborn, ain't you? Go turn into a barnacle and get eaten by humans. That'd make for a great life."

"A barnacle…?" Yuzuru asked.

"Huh? Barnacles are edible?" Oyama asked in shock.

"There are some edible ones." Takamatsu remarked.

"I never knew that. " Hinata said, still rubbing his face due to an earlier kick in the face from Yuri.

"This is so stupid…" Shiina repeated.

"Come on guys, there's no real reason to kick the guy out of here just yet, not quite yet." Yuri spoke up. "It's not the policy of…Of…uh, what the hell's our name now?"

"Barnacle Battlefront." Fujimaki replied.

"Right, the Barnacle Battle-" Yuri instantly realized what she was saying and kicked Fujimaki very aggressively in the face.

"That's it; it's going back to the Underworld Battlefront." Yuri said irritably.

"That was a nice kick…" Fujimaki said in pain.

"Actually, if I might make a suggestion, why not call it the Afterlife Battlefront." I spoke up. "After all, we are in the Afterlife School, so to me it makes sense."

"Actually, that's not half bad. Okay, then it's settled, we are now the Afterlife Battlefront." Yuri said as she turned to Yuzuru. "We're safe as long as we're in this base. After all, that is what brought you here right?"

"No, I didn't know that. And besides I got sent flying when I came in here." Yuzuru said. "And by the way, you are joking about being reincarnated as anything other than human, right?"

"It's no joke." Matsushita replied.

"Well, how do you know that for sure? Who saw that happen?" Yuzuru asked. "You don't know that for sure."

"Well, of course we don't know that for sure. But Buddhism doesn't say that we'll be reincarnated only as a human now does it." Yuri replied.

"But seriously, a barnacle?" Yuzuru said.

"Religion is just something that human beings made up on their own." Yuri added. "Now listen carefully, because this is important. In our previous world, death didn't care. It went after people discriminately and randomly, it's not like we were actually able to defy it. But this world is a whole other ballgame; we can exist as long as we resist Angel. We can fight back."

"Okay, but wait a minute, what happens when all is said and done? What are you trying to accomplish?" Yuzuru asked.

"Our goal is to take out Angel once and for all." Yuri replied. "Once we do that, this world will belong to us."

"Huh…?" Yuzuru said in shock.

"You're new here, so it's no wonder you're a little confused. Heighten your sense of adaptability and accept thing as they are." Yuri continued.

"Accept things…and then fight…against Angel?" Yuzuru repeated.

"That's right, fight with us." Yuri said as she outstretched her hand towards Yuzuru. He was about to take her hand and shake when all of a sudden, Noda burst through the doors to the base.

"Hold on a minute! " Noda began as he twirled his axe in the air above his head. But that was before he triggered the same trap that had gotten Yuzuru earlier and sent him flying out the window on the other side of the room.

"Moron…" Hinata said.

"Dumb-ass fell for his own trap…" Fujimaki added.

"That's what happened to me…?" Yuzuru asked in disbelief.

"You need a password to enter safe and sound." Yuri spoke up. "After all, this is our Anti-Angel Strategy Headquarters. This is the only safe place where we can talk."

"Could…you give me some time to think about this…?" Yuzuru asked.

"Of course, anywhere but here." Yuri replied. After a moment, Yuzuru sighed.

"Fine, what's the password?" Yuzuru said.

"There is no God, Buddha, or Angel. Welcome aboard." Yuri said as she shook Yuzuru's hand. "I'm Yuri, the leader of this name-changing battlefront, and this is Hinata; he's as lazy as he looks, but sometimes he pulls through."

"Yeah…" Hinata said as he slicked back his hair before getting the message. "Hey! That's not a compliment!"

"He's Matsushita; he has a fifth degree judo belt, so everyone calls him Matsushita the Fifth out of respect." Yuri continued.

"Nice to meet you." Matsushita said, shaking Yuzuru's hand.

"That's Oyama; his special trait is that he doesn't have any." Yuri said.

"Welcome to the battlefront, man." Oyama said, also shaking Yuzuru's hand.

"Dance to the beat." TK said, sliding over to Yuzuru.

"Uh…I don't dance, dude." Yuzuru replied.

"It's how he greets people." Yuri said. "Everyone calls him TK, but no one knows his real name. Even I don't know what his field is."

"Exactly how high is this guy?" Yuzuru asked.

"The guy constantly straightening his glasses trying to look smart is Takamatsu; he's actually stupid." Yuri said.

"Nice to meet you." Takamatsu added.

"This here is Fujimaki." Yuri continued.

"I'm Fujimaki, punk." Fujimaki said.

"I'm not a punk…" Yuzuru replied.

"The guy who went flying was Noda, the girl hiding in the shadows saying 'this is so stupid' is Shiina, and sitting here is Iwasawa; she's the leader of the diversion unit. There are a few dozen people hiding around the school who are members of Battlefront."

"Ahem" I spoke up. "Anyways, I'm Makoto Yuuki. Like you, I just got here last night, but I'm a bit more knowledgeable than you think I am. For example, I'm aware of all of Angels' tricks despite getting here just last night as I mentioned. You see, I know all about Battlefront, Angel, everything about this school that you can think of. This reminds me…" I said as turned to face the others for a moment.

"I haven't been totally honest with you all; I'm actually not from the future. But I do know a lot more than you think." I continued. "Like I managed to infiltrate Angels' lair and discovered how she gets her power, and I even managed to piggyback on that as well, so now I can use only a small amount of her abilities, but nonetheless, I can use them. Think of me as a sort of psychic."

"Well, from the future or not, he has plenty of knowledge and can fight Angel back with her own firepower, so he could be helpful." Yuri said as she turned to face Yuzuru again. "So, that's all of us. What about you?"

"Uh…O-" Yuzuru began before I cut him off.

"Save your breath, buddy and let me explain. His name's Otonashi. As for his first name…well, I'll keep that a secret until he remembers it himself, seeing as he seems to have amnesia." I replied.

"The whole amnesia scenario, eh?" Hinata asked. "Don't worry, it'll come back eventually."

"Hey, wait a minute; shouldn't we give him a uniform?" Matsushita asked. Which he was right, since Yuzuru still had on his ripped and tattered uniform from when he got here. Even I had gotten a uniform, but that's only because I had joined before Yuzuru.

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot about that." Yuri said.

"So why is my uniform different…different from all of yours I mean?" Yuzuru asked as he looked down at the shredded remains of the upper part of his uniform.

"Oh, yours isn't the different one, ours is." Yuri explained as she sat down at the principals' chair. "That's the normal school uniform. This one's made just for us; we are class SSS."

…_**...**_

Later on that night, we were all sitting in the base when Yuri and Yuzuru came back from the 'tour' that Yuri had given Yuzuru. We stood up and greeted them when they entered.

"Hey, guys, I think that Otonashi here will need a weapon of sorts if he'll be fighting Angel." I spoke up. Yuri turned and nodded.

"Hey, you're actually right, Makoto." Yuri said. "I think that I have an extra gun or two around here somewhere. I don't think that you'll need one on the other hand." She added jokingly.

"Yeah, I'm like my own weapon. But I wouldn't mind having one myself anyways. I don't want to have to rely on my Guard Skills all the time." I replied. Yuri nodded and went over to the principals' desk and pulled out two handguns from the drawer in front of the chair. Yuri walked over to the still broken window from earlier and took one of the guns and fired a few test shots out the window. Afterwards, she handed the weapon to me and proceeded to do the same with the second gun. After she finished firing the test shots from this gun, she turned and held the gun out to Yuzuru.

"There you go, locked and loaded." Yuri said. "Even newbs can fire this." Yuzuru proceeded to take the gun from her.

"Is it effective?" Yuzuru asked.

"Aim for her legs, that way she can't chase you." Yuri replied.

"But she's a girl….will she heal quickly?" Yuzuru said.

"You should learn that from firsthand experience." Yuri replied. "That's how all of us had to learn the rules."

"Fine then." Yuzuru said, giving up. Suddenly, the lights in the room shut off completely and Yuri pulled down the blinds on the open window. Then, as a massive screen slid down from the ceiling, Yuri placed a small white hat on her head.

"Just the kind of answer I'm looking for." Yuri said. "Now, to help you get up to speed, we're going to have you participate in a simple field exercise. Consider it part of your training. Codename; Operation Tornado."

"Alright, let's get started." Matsushita spoke up.

"Tornado….?" Yuzuru asked in puzzlement.

"We're going to blow away the student's meal tickets." Yuri said as she pumped her fist.

"You're stealing?! That's not huge, it's bullying!" Yuzuru exclaimed. "I'm disappointed, you're just a bunch of bullies with weapons!"

"Watch your filthy mouth, punk." Noda replied, placing his axe against Yuzuru's throat. "That's a direct insult to Yurippe, you take it back."

"Why should I?" Yuzuru asked.

"Because members of the Anti-Barnacle Extinction Battlefront never threaten normal students through sheer numbers or weapons." Matsushita said.

They're endangered?" Oyama asked.

"They will be someday." Matsushita replied.

"But you said you're going to steal them." Yuzuru said turning back to Yuri.

"Yep, we're literally going to blow them away." Yuri replied. "Listen, you're going to be on Team Barricade which prevents Angel from intruding. Everyone will arm themselves and take key positions surrounding the Cafeteria where the plan will take place. Don't worry, I'll give you an easy location. Check with Oyama or Takamatsu to learn your exact position." Yuzuru turned to see Oyama smiling.

"Iwasawa, you're up again today." Yuri continued.

"Got it." Iwasawa replied.

"Fire a few shots if Angel shows up. That's our signal that you need backup." Yuri continued. "You hear a gunshot, I want you to make sure that you move in to help. The operation starts at 18: 30, operation, start!"

…_**...**_

It was later that night, we were all in our positions for the operation. I had offered to team up with Yuzuru since he was still a bit new. And honestly, he's a pretty cool guy once you get to know him. He and I were standing at the second entrance bridge, still with no sign of Angel, so we were just talking to make the time go by.

"So, I hear that you're also new here, Yuuki." Yuzuru said.

"Yeah, and you can just call me Makoto. And you can thank me for your waking up in the infirmary, by the way." I replied. Yuzuru just sort of stared at me for a second. "Hey now, don't look at me like that. I'm not heartless, I wasn't about to leave you there in the middle of the plaza what with that hole in your chest. And plus, I had to try to save you from going to talk to Angel anyways, but that failed miserably."

"Well, thanks anyways, I guess." Yuzuru replied. "How are they going to peacefully steal all those meal tickets anyway?"

"Well, I may as well tell you, they basically will have Iwasawa and the rest of the diversion unit go in there and distract the students, then a few other Battlefront members will turn on a few huge and powerful fans and open some windows, and then, bam! You have Operation Tornado." I explained. "It's like Yurippe said earlier, we're literally blowing away the meal tickets. This is a regular thing with the Battlefront, it helps them maintain a food supply so to speak." Yuzuru turned to me for a second and just looked at me.

"What the hell are staring at me like that for" I asked.

"Well…it's just that….now that I look at you, you actually look a lot like Angel. Well, except for the hair and eyes, that is." Yuzuru replied. That actually caught my attention.

"Huh…It must be a coincidence or something that I look like Angel." I replied. Suddenly, I saw Angel in the distance walking toward us. "Speak of the Devil…Well, speak of the Angel I guess."

"Huh?" Yuzuru asked before he saw Angel as well. But now, she was right at the other end of the bridge. Yuzuru and I jumped back a little at how fast she got over here and Yuzuru aimed his gun at her. I knew that I should leave this to him like in the Anime.

"What the hell are you waiting for? Shoot already! Remember what she did to you last time! Come on!" I shouted at Yuzuru to snap him out of his thoughts. Yuzuru fired the gun and managed to hit Angel in the stomach. But as expected, she merely stepped back and gave no indication that she was hurt other than holding her hand over the spot that was hit.

"I-I hit her." Yuzuru said in shock. "Aw man, I wanted to hit her legs…" At that moment, Angel took her hand away from the wound to reveal that there was a large blotch of blood on her uniform.

"Guard Skill Hand Sonic." Angel said, activating her ability and walking toward us once more.

"No-no way." Yuzuru said in shock.

"Yeah, now would be a good time to run, Otonashi." I said as I backed up and started to go in the opposite direction. Yuzuru quickly followed me and caught up with me.

"Why isn't she stopping, what the hell?" Yuzuru asked as he turned around and attempted at firing at Angel once more, only to have the bullet deflected by Angels' Hand Sonic blade. "Damnit!" Yuzuru tried firing another shot that was deflected as well.

Eventually, we had ended up at the front of the cafeteria and turned to see Angel walking up the stairs after us. Suddenly, I saw an axe fly by my head and head straight at /angel. She merely used her Hand sonic blade to deflect that as well and then, Noda landed behind us as we turned to see him do so.

"Aw, damnit! I missed her!" Noda said angrily. Just then, Hinata and TK showed up as well.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Hinata said as he and TK took their position next to Yuzuru.

"You came after the weakest link!" Fujimaki said as he too stood next to Yuzuru.

"She's still only using Hand Sonic." I heard Oyama say from behind me.

"We should go somewhere open." Hinata added.

"We should attack while we retreat." Matsushita said.

"Guard Skill Distortion." Angel said as her body faintly glowed for a brief second.

"Open fire!" Noda shouted as the rest of us began to unload our bullets on Angel. I knew that it wouldn't hurt her, but it would at least keep her occupied since she can't attack us while Distortion is active. And just as I thought, the bullets all just bounced off of nothing as they all reached Angel.

"Damnit! We're too late." Hinata said.

"This is why I hate guns." Noda remarked. We continued to assault Angel to keep her back and eventually, we ended up doing more harm than good as the bullets started to hit light posts and other structures when they were deflected off of the Distortion shield.

Just then, I saw Shiina land next to me and throw what I presumed to be either a grenade or a smoke bomb since she seems to specialize in either one. We stopped firing as the expected explosion occurred. But we saw that Angel was still standing and began the assault once more.

"Why haven't they stolen the tickets yet?" Hinata asked no one in particular. And as if on cue, we saw hundreds of small slips of paper start to all from the sky and land on the ground. We stopped firing immediately and ran in the opposite direction of Angel towards the Cafeteria.

…_**...**_

The next day, we were all in the Cafeteria and enjoying lunch which included Beef Udon. I was sitting next to Yuri as I saw Yuzuru come by and sit down across from her.

"Is this okay, won't she attack us while we're taking it easy eating?" Yuzuru asked.

"We're just eating." Yuri replied as if Yuzuru was crazy or something.

"So is that how it works?" Yuzuru asked with sarcasm. I looked over at Yuzuru and I knew right off the bat what he was thinking. He was thinking about how our one and only enemy was Angel and how he was only buying time for his memories to return. Now, seeing as I've, once again, seen the Anime that I was now actually living, obviously I would know that.

"Don't worry, Otonashi, it'll work out eventually." I spoke up. Yuzuru looked at me in confusion.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Ha ha…nothing. Just talking to myself…" I replied with a chuckle. Now, considering that I had a great time on my first mission with the Battlefront, I was definitely looking forward to the next one…..

_**Well, that's the first chapter, guys. In the next chapter, we'll be seeing the events of Episode 2. The story will just follow the plot of the Anime with the added input and interaction of my OC. I will not do a chapter for the OVA unless you guys request it enough.**_

_**I guess that the only other thing to do is the disclaimer; I do not own Angel Beats. But if I did, the ending would not have been quite as sad as it was (those of you who have watched the ENTIRE SERIES will know what I mean). I only own Makoto Yuuki.**_

_**See you later**_

**:D**


	2. Chapter 2: Guild

Angel Beats: The Tale Reborn

Chapter 2: Guild

We were all sitting in the headquarters, and just really talking. But I knew that that was about to change when I heard Yuri speak up.

"Takamatsu, present your report." Yuri said. Immediately, the room was prepared for the report and then the next mission that I knew was coming was entering the preparation stage.

"Alright, well according to our weapons supply, our stockpile of gunpowder is mostly depleted." Takamatsu replied. "We should stock up before our next battle."

"Hey, wait a minute, with the new guys here; don't we need a few more guns?" Oyama asked.

"Indeed." Yuri replied, sitting up in her chair. "Very well, today's operation is Operation: Guild Parachute Drop." I looked over at Yuzuru and I could tell what he was thinking about, which was a daydream about all of us jumping out of a plane and literally parachuting onto the ground. The amusing part about it was the part when he was screaming in the daydream when he was parachuting down.

"What's wrong Otonashi?" Hinata asked.

"Sorry, I'm not a real big fan of heights." Yuzuru replied.

"We're not parachuting from the sky, we're parachuting underground." Yuri said.

"Oh, underground, well why didn't you say-underground?!" Yuzuru exclaimed.

"You see, it's a part of our rebellion we call the Guild. It's hidden deep underground." Yuri said. "That's where our friends make all of our weapons."

"Is is there so Angel won't find it?" Yuzuru asked.

"Yep." Yuri replied. "If she overtook the Guild, we'd lose our weapons supplies. We'd lose all hope of winning." Yuri pressed a key on the computer in front of her and after a minute, a voice spoke up.

"Hey." it said.

"It's me, we're coming there tonight. I need you to disarm all the traps." Yuri said.

"Rodger. It's tonight, right? We'll be waiting." the voice said as Yuri hung up.

"Perfect." Yuri said. "Alright, all of you are going in."

"Huh? Wait, what about Noda?" Oyama asked.

"That stupid idiot is probably off somewhere doing his own thing." Hinata replied.

"Alright, let's go." TK said.

_**…...**_

Later that afternoon, we were all in the gym and attempting at pulling a large cart-like object filled with chairs out from under the stage on the other end of the room.

"Heave ho!" Matsushita said as we managed to pull the cart out.

"Okay, let's go." Fujimaki said as everyone started to duck under the stage and into the small passage underneath.

"Come on, don't just stand there." Hinata said as he nudged Yuzuru towards the passage.

"It's…it's in there?" Yuzuru asked. Yuzuru and Hinata went down next, leaving me as the last one. I looked behind me and for a second, I thought that I saw someone walking toward the gym. I figured that the chances were high that that someone was Angel. I hurried down under the stage and down the ladder.

"Man, it's been ages since we visited the Guild last." Oyama remarked as I reached the bottom of the ladder.

"It's really dark." Yuzuru said.

"Hey! There's someone here." Fujimaki said. He shined his flashlight in front of him to see that Noda was standing in front of us.

"It's the moron…." Hinata said.

"You're Otonashi, ain't ya'." Noda asked as he pointed his axe at Yuzuru. "I haven't accepted you as one of us."

"Oh, good grief, I don't see why he's waiting to ambush you here…" Hinata said.

"It looks like Noda's taking the situation seriously." Oyama said.

"It doesn't make sense." Yuri replied.

"I don't care if you accept me." Yuzuru replied.

"Punk! Care to die a thousand times?" Noda asked as he stepped forward. Suddenly, he was hit from the side by a massive hammer that sent him into the wall and piling debris on him. Well, at least the annoyance is out of the picture.

"Battle formation!" Yuri instructed.

"I don't get it, weren't the traps disabled?" Fujimaki asked.

"What's going on?" Yuzuru asked as Hinata pulled him back.

"Just what it looks like." Hinata replied. "There are several anti-Angel instant death traps from here to the Guild. And it would seem that all of them are still activated."

"Meaning what?" Yuzuru asked.

"They forgot to disarm them?" Oyama wondered.

"Don't tell me they're trying to kill us." Fujimaki said.

"No, the Guild must have decided to reactivate the traps…" Yuri replied.

"But why?" Matsushita asked.

"There's only one explanation…Angel is here…" Yuri said. This, I personally doubted, and I knew that it was also wrong. Seeing as I thought I saw Angel before I went down, I think that it's almost the other way around.

"Down here?!" Matsushita asked in shock.

"I don't know, Yurippe, I think that maybe the Guild workers kept the traps activated just in case Angel were to follow us without us knowing it. And besides, considering the abilities that both she and I can use, these traps would be practically nothing to her if she was here already, and she would have trashed the Guild by now." I said.

"Actually, he's got a bit of a point, Yurippe." Matsushita replied.

"Well, let's not eliminate all other possibilities yet." Yuri said.

"We screwed up…" Shiina said.

"Hold on a minute, so the Guild knew we were coming and reactivated them anyway?" Yuzuru asked.

"It appears you still don't understand." Takamatsu said. "No matter what happens, we cannot die, it's just insanely painful."

"That's not cool…" Yuzuru said as he looked over at the pile of debris that Noda was under.

"But if she locates the Guild and topples it, we won't be able to get more bullets, or repair broken weapons. How will we fight against Angel then, huh?" Takamatsu continued.

"The Guilds' decision was correct." Yuri said.

"Should we pursue Angel?" Hinata asked.

"Are you crazy? The traps aren't deactivated." Fujimaki said.

"Those traps will take care of Angel right? Let's leave." Yuzuru said.

"I'm afraid these traps will only stop her temporarily." Yuri replied.

"She's right." I replied. "Angel has a number of supernatural abilities at her disposal. And along with that, she has a very high endurance level and a high tolerance of pain; she won't go down with just a few simple traps." Yuri turned to me and nodded.

"We're going." Yuri said. "About march!"

_**…...**_

It had been a few minutes since we had started going through the passage to the Guild, and we had arrived on the B3 level of the passage. I knew exactly what was about to happen when I heard Yuzuru speak up.

"So tell me, what kinds of traps are there?" Yuzuru asked.

"Every kind you can think of, just keep your eyes peeled." Hinata replied. Suddenly, Shiina called out.

"Crap, its coming!" Shiina said. All of us turned around in confusion.

"Huh, what is?" Yuzuru asked. That was when we all heard the rumbling from above us. Shortly afterwards, we were greeted by the sight of a massive metal ball landing behind us and starting to roll forward.

"Move it!" Shiina yelled as she started running herself. All of us soon followed suit and broke into a mad dash away from the large metal ball that I knew would claim one of us. We all managed to get into the small areas on the side of the passage and thankfully avoided being crushed by the object. Well, that was before I heard Takamatsu scream and I knew that my suspicions were correct.

"That was Takamatsu's voice, he's a goner." Hinata said after the immediate danger had passed.

"Looks like everyone but Takamatsu is okay, let's head out." Yuri said.

"Head out? Shouldn't we save him?" Yuzuru asked.

"He's not going to die. Don't worry, he'll break free and make it back to the surface." Hinata replied as he stood up.

"Are you sure?" Yuzuru asked.

"Come on." Hinata said as he helped Yuzuru to his feet.

"Thanks, you're a life saver." Yuzuru said.

"Ah, it's no biggie. To be honest, I'm actually pretty fond of you man." Hinata said with a small wink.

"Are you gay?" Yuzuru asked. At that point, I just wanted to burst out laughing, but I managed to control myself.

"HELL NO!" Hinata instantly replied. Hell no my ass, just saying.

_**…...**_

After a while, we arrived on the B6 level of the passage. Ahead of us was a doorway that led into a small metallic tunnel. I knew exactly what was going to happen once we entered the tunnel.

"Stay on your toes, guys." I said before we went inside.

"What do you mean?" Yuzuru asked.

"You'll see soon enough." I replied. By the time we had entered the tunnel, we noticed that the door on the other side of the tunnel was closed shut. "Don't bother, guys, the door won't open." Suddenly, the door we had just gone through slammed down and closed us in.

"Oh no, I'm sorry I forgot. This trap locks it's victims inside." Oyama exclaimed.

"Don't forget important details like that!" Yuzuru yelled.

"This is so stupid…" Shiina said. At that moment, the lights in the tunnel came on. I knew exactly what was going to happen next.

"This is where things get a little sticky." Yuri said.

"Everyone get down on the ground, now!" I shouted. Everyone including myself did just that as we heard a sort of whirring noise above our heads. Shiina threw a smoke bomb-like object and the results revealed that there was a laser running the width of the room in front of Matsushita and Oyama.

"What happens if that touches you?" Yuzuru asked.

"Holy smoke, man. That laser's so sharp it'll cut you right in half." Hinata replied.

"Looks like it's coming back for round two." Fujimaki said as a second laser appeared above the first.

"What should I do?" Oyama asked.

"Lay flat." Yuri replied as the pair of lasers went by at an even faster rate.

"Now for round three!" Fujimaki said.

"What do you mean round three?" Yuri asked as she turned around to see the lasers new formation.

"It's an x." Fujimaki said a bit nervously.

"How are we supposed to dodge that?" Yuzuru asked in alarm.

"Each man for himself." Yuri replied. At that moment, we started to evade the lasers by leaping over them as it neared us.

"Hurry up and open the door! " I heard Matsushita yell. After I landed, I turned around to see that Matsushita was the only one left. I quickly looked away to avoid the horrible sight that followed a scream from Matsushita.

"Don't look. You shouldn't look…" I heard Hinata say as he shielded Yuzuru's eyes.

"What happened?" Yuzuru asked.

"It's open! Hurry up!" Fujimaki yelled. Each of us managed to get out the other side on the tunnel and almost landed in a pile in doing so.

"We lost Matsushita this time. Not surprising considering his size." Yuri said.

"Well, he's needed to go on a diet." Fujimaki replied.

"I bet he saw something nasty, up close and personal." Hinata said. "I'm just so happy that you're still alive." Hinata looked over at Yuzuru when he said that. "Oh, for the record, after getting shred to bits, he'll pull himself back together." I heard Yuzuru laugh a bit nervously.

_**…...**_

Sometime later, we arrived at the B8 level of the Guild passage. After we made it to the bottom of the ladder that was at the entrance, we started to walk through the stone passageway ahead. Suddenly, we heard a rumble above our heads and when we looked up, we saw that the ceiling was starting to come down on us.

"the trap's been activated!" Yuri yelled.

"Crap, I forgot. This is the trap where the ceiling falls!" Oyama exclaimed.

"Don't forget important details like that!" Yuzuru shouted as the ceiling was about to crush us. Suddenly, I looked over and saw that TK was holding the ceiling above us and preventing it from crushing us all.

"TK!" Every one exclaimed.

"Hurry up! You can still make it dudes!" TK said as he struggled to hold up the ceiling. "Give my love to Jesus, man." Everyone nodded and started to crawl out from under the space we were in.

"Good man." Yuri said.

"Later!" Fujimaki added.

"Take care." Hinata chimed in. I noticed that Yuzuru was hesitating a bit.

"Come on man, we need to get out of here now." I said.

"But what about him?" Yuzuru asked, gesturing to the still struggling TK.

"He'll be fine, but right now we need to get the hell out of here." I replied. I managed to get Yuzuru and myself out just in time. Since at that moment, the part of the ceiling that TK was holding up came down completely, effectively crushing our ally.

"Even TK got sacrificed." Yuri said.

"It's all your fault you know." Yuzuru said.

"Come on, he'll be alright. Its fine, it's just fine." Hinata added.

"We can't let his sacrifice be in vain, let's go." Yuri said as she started to proceed to the next floor.

_**….**_

Once we reached the next floor, we were walking down a long hallway that was made completely out of stone. Suddenly, Yuri stopped walking and looked down.

"What's wrong?" Hinata asked.

"Something…" Yuri began. But before she could finish, the floor beneath us gave way and totally crumbled to reveal a massive pit below us.

"Crap! This is the trap-well, I guess you know now!" Oyama yelled as he fell into the pit. The rest of us, however, were left hanging on to each other for dear life.

"Stop forgetting stuff!" Yuzuru shouted downwards.

"You're too heavy. I can't hold on!" Yuri called out.

"You want Otonashi, Yuuki, and I to fall?" Hinata asked in a strained manner.

"This is an option?" Yuzuru asked in shock.

"Wouldn't be wise to lose our remaining forces here." Shiina replied.

"I know, just hurry and climb up!" Yuri said. I quickly climbed up the others like a rope and got back onto solid ground.

"Otonashi can you do it?" Hinata asked.

"I don't have a choice." Yuzuru replied.

"Take it easy there, will ya'." Hinata said from below.

"Oh geez, quit reading anything into this!" Yuzuru yelled. I could imagine Yuzuru climbing up like I did.

"What are you doing? Quit resting and keep climbing." I heard Yuri say.

"Well where should I grab onto you?" Yuzuru asked. I figured that this would happen.

"It doesn't matter, just grab anywhere you can." Yuri replied. "Hurry up. You'll fall like that." I could hear Yuri helping out Yuzuru as he made his way up.

"Why do you have to be facing me like this?" Yuzuru asked sarcastically.

"Oh, like I planned it this way. Get your butt in gear!" Yuri yelled. After a few seconds, Yuzuru managed to make it back onto the ledge next to me.

"You alright man?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Yuzuru replied.

"Don't grab me there!" I heard Yuri yell one moment, then the next moment, I heard a painful sounding thud and then Hinata's scream could be heard traveling downwards. A few minutes later, Yuri and Shiina were standing next to Yuzuru and me.

"Where's Hinata?" Yuzuru asked.

"He was a noble sacrifice." Yuri said simply.

"Oh…" Yuzuru said.

"Now we're down to just five members." Yuri said.

"Ha! Pretty surprising that a newb like you has made it this far." Fujimaki said, addressing Yuzuru.

"I guess." Yuzuru said with a shrug.

"Oh, you'll be the next to go…" Fujimaki said with a smirk.

_**…..**_

Despite Fujimaki's words from before, Yuzuru was not the next one to die. Rather it was Fujimaki himself who was the next one, having drowned due to a trap on the B13 level of the passage.

"It's a water trap." Yuri said.

"Didn't know the poor bastard couldn't swim." Yuzuru said. Suddenly, Shiina surfaced next to me.

"The way out's this way, follow me." Shiina said. She immediately dove back down underwater and the rest of us followed suit. Swimming through an underwater passage, we soon afterwards surfaced in a similar pond-like area. The area was like a massive cave, I recognized this place as B15 of the Guilds' passageway. We all swam over to the shallower end of the 'pond' and stood up in knee-deep water.

"Is everyone alright?" I asked, Yuri and Yuzuru nodded.

"Yuri, over here!" Shiina called over to us. We all quickly made our way over to where she was and continued on our way. That was when I heard an all to familiar sound up ahead, a constant and high-pitched barking sound. I looked up ahead to see a small puppy in what appeared to be a rsaft floating down the stream towards us.

"huh? What's that doing here?" Yuzuru asked.

"Wait, that's…" Yuri began. I glanced over at Shiina and saw the fire in her eyes right before she ran forward.

"Oh no, the puppy's getting carried away!" Shiina exclaimed. She leaped forward right at the raft. "I'm coming puppy!" She landed in the water and managed to grab the raft with the 'puppy' in it.

"Oh boy…" I muttered to myself. Shiina was now getting carried down the stream due to the current and I could hear her shout right before she fell down the nearby waterfall.

"Oh good grief, it's just a toy!" Shiina shouted as she fell farther downward.

"Even Shiina fell victim to a trap…" Yuri said.

"THAT'S an Anti-Angel trap?" Yuzuru asked. "She should have realized quicker."

"She misidentifies cute things as real animals…" Yuri said. I looked over at Yuri and saw that her eyes were cast down and her fists were tightly balled up.

"That's…surprisingly cute for her." Yuzuru said hesitantly. "But she'll be alright, won't she?" Yuri didn't reply, rather she just started walking onward. I followed her, already knowing where this was going. I looked behind me and motioned Yuzuru to follow along too.

_** …**_

A few minutes later, we arrived at the start of the B17 passageway. Ahead of us was a long metallic hallway that was traversed in silence for the first bit. That's when Yuri finally spoke up.

"Looks like you guys are the only ones left." Yuri said. I simply nodded in response.

"It sure looks that way." Yuzuru replied. I heard a dull pang on the wall and saw Yuri had pounded her fist on it.

"If this was a real army, everyone would have died…" Yuri said solemnly. "I'm a terrible leader."

"It couldn't be helped, they were Anti-Angel traps." Yuzuru said, trying to comfort Yuri. "They're useless if they're not effective." There was silence in the passage for a moment.

"Why don't we take a breather, we'll need it." I said calmly.

"Sure…I'd like to dry my clothes anyway…" Yuri said softly. We found a small space that was separate from the main hallway and sat down there. Again, more silence in the passage.

"I have to say, I'm amazed that you're able to lead everyone." Yuzuru said after a while. "Why were you chosen to be their leader?"

"I was the first to fight back, that's the only reason…" Yuri replied.

"Against Angel…?" Yuzuru asked.

"Right." Yuri said simply. "I used to have siblings…I'm talking about my memories…something you lack…"

"You mean before you came here, when you were alive?" Yuzuru asked.

"That's right." Yuri replied. "There were four of us altogether. I was the oldest, with two little sisters and a little brother. Our parents work was going well, so we lived in a nice house. It was like living in a mansion the way it was surrounded by nature." There was a small moment of silence before Yuri continued. "It was summer break… One afternoon while our parents were at work some strange men broke into our house. All o0f a sudden they came in wearing ski masks. Not exactly summer attire, so I knew something was up… I thought because I was the oldest I had to protect my brother and sisters…. But, I didn't stand a chance, y'know? Of course, they were after money, but they couldn't find any, so they got angry and started breaking the windows and the TV." Neither Yuzuru or I spoke at all while Yuri was remembering things that she clearly didn't want to.

"They were shattering everything that they could get their hands on. Then…they thought of the worst possible way to find the money. Something so cruel…so sick…" Yuri continued. "They threatened to kill my siblings if I didn't bring them something. I was desperate as I searched the house…my head hurt terribly. I felt nauseated, I was ready to pass out…. Their fates were in my hands, I just ahd to find something. But I had no idea what they would consider valuable…." A tear began to roll down her cheek as she spoke. "The police came thirty minutes later… I was the only one still alive."

"Yuri…" I said softly.

"I don't care if I become a water flea. I just want to defy this high and almighty God if he even actually exists." Yuri continued. "I mean…it's just not fair, we never did anything wrong, we were just kids… I was confident I was a cool big sister until that day. But I lost everything I wanted to protect in thirty minutes… That's too unfair, how could I ever forgive God for that…?"

"You're strong." Yuzuru spoke up. "I'd probably want to get obliterated right away if those were the kind of memories I had. You're fighting back."

"You bet." Yuri saqid as she stood up.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" Yuzuru asked.

"What's that?" yuri replied.

"how did you die?" Yuzuru asked.

"Huh…? Moron, I didn't commit suicide! Someone who kills themselves wouldn't fight back like I do! For your information, none of us killed themselves… Let's go." Yuri said. That last sentence actually hit me hard there. As we were walking along, Yuzuru seemed to notice this and spoke up.

"Hey, are you alright? You seem different ever since we left back there." He asked. "Did Yurippe say something back there that got to you?" Yuri turned around at that and seemed interests too. They both seemed to be waiting for me to say something.

"What are you guys looking at me like that for? It's nothing, really." I replied, trying to drop it altogether. But then, Yuri said something that told me there was no avoiding it.

"It's about your past, isn't it?" she asked.

"Can't we just drop it? I think we've had enough depressing stories for now." I said. "And besides, my past isn't really worth talking about."

"C'mon, it's pretty clear that you want to talk about it." Yuri replied. I sighed and looked at her.

"Yeah, it was what you said about none of you guys being subject to suicide in your past lives…that sort isn't the case with me." I replied. "That is to say that I died because of my own decision…."

_**(Flashback…)**_

_It was New Year's Eve; I was hanging out at a party with some of my friends. This was a typical party thrown by high school students; dancing, beer, tarot readings, all of it. Of course, a bunch of my friends decided to get drunk for the occasion like you would expect._

"_*sigh* Another January 1st, another year of my life gone by without the answers I need…" I said to myself. Then, one of my friends, Hisashi walks up to me in a way that suggestyed that he had gotten drunk already. He was stumbling all over the place until he finally stood in front of me._

"_Heeeey man! Shweet party, eh?" Hisashi asked. "Hey, they gots the king's game goin' on right there, let's go." I shook my head as he pointed to a corner of the basement where there was a group of high school kids seated together. I could see my other friends, Akira, Jun, and Megumi over there as well._

"_Nah, I should actually get back to the orphanage pretty soon." I replied. "I can give you a ride since you're…well…drunk."_

"_Nah maaaaan, I can leave on my own, jusht watch." Hisashi tried to walk off, but I grabbed his shoulder and turned him around again._

"_no way, Hisashi, you aren't about to do something you'll regret." I said sternly._

"_Awwww, you're shuch a goody-two-shoes, Makoto… But fine, I'll let you drive me home." Hisashi said. "I'll uh…Uh… go see if the others need a ride too." He stumbled over to where the others were and after a few minutes, we were all packing into the car  
I had borrowed from the orphanage I lived at. As we were driving down the dark street, I smelled something familiar. I looked behind me to see that Akira and Jun were pulling bottles of beer out of their jackets._

"_You guys snuck that stuff out of the house?!" Megumi asked in surprise. "You two are a bunch of idiots! What if we get stopped by the police huh? Now Makoto's going to get blamed for it!" I couldn't agree with her more right about now. Suddenly, I saw Jun's and Hisashi's hats fly out the open windows on my side._

"_Whoa, the hatsh!" Jun shouted. "Bro, we gotta' go back for em'!" I couldn't believe that this was happening right now._

"_Well, next time, don't leave the windows open when you're wearing hats." Megumi said matter-of-factly. I was about to agree with her when Suddenly, Hisashi leaned over and started jerking the wheel so that we'd turn around. I tried to regain control of it, but Hisashi kept fighting back and now Jun was joining in!_

_Before I knew it, we were spiraling out of control and I couldn't get us back on the right track. Suddenly, there was a large truck headed right for us, and when it hit us, surprisingly enough, it didn't kill us. It just knocked us off the road and we went spiraling even MORE. I could actually feel the car rolling down a hill and then, there was a massive impact on the side of my head. It was one of those beer bottles that Jun and Akira had smuggled in here. The impact only nearly knocked me unconscious. But what DID finally do me in was another huge hit to the head from the steering wheel as we hit a tree in our path. The last thing I remembered hearing was the sounds of the others screaming at the top of their lungs and then, nothing…_

_**(Flashback ends…)**_

I sighed and leaned against the wall. I hated thinking about that stuff, but I knew that it would come up eventually.

"It was because of my stupid decision that I'm here. I was the one who offered to drive them, home, I was the one that was responsible for them while they were in the car, so I should have checked to make sure that there wasn't any alcohol in the car. It was my stupid mistakes that dumped me here." I sighed again. "Are you guys ready now?" I started walking off down the hallway, already knowing what to expect next.

_**…..**_

After a while, we finally came up to a small metal hatch that led down. Yuri and I opened the hatch and we each started climbing down. I could hear Yuzuru suddenly shout in sur[rise below me.

"THIS is the Guild?!" he asked in shock. When I saw it, I couldn't believe my eyes either. The best way to describe the Guild is basically a gigantic city made of metal and scrap.

"Pretty incredible, huh?" I asked him teasingly. When we finally reached the bottom of the ladder, a large group of Guild workers came rushing over and greeted Yuri.

"What's the status on Angel?" Yuri asked.

"Her advance has stopped but recently resumed." One of the workers replied. A rumble that sounded relatively close sounded from above us. "She fell for another one…"

"She's close…" Yuzuru said.

"Yurippe…?" the worker asked. Yuri didn't say anything at first, but then nodded.

"We're scrapping this place!" Yuri finally said. The reply caused a bit of chatter amongst the workers.

"Don't you need this place for us to make weapons?" another worker asked.

"What's important isn't the location or equipment, but your memories. Or have you forgotten?" Yuri replied.

"What do you mean, Yuri?" Yuzuru asked.

"Something with life cannot be born into this world, but we can manufacture objects." She answered. "As long as you know the mechanics and how to replicate them, you don't need real materials. You can make it from dirt."

"But somewhere along the line, we prioritized efficiency and grew accustomed to making replicas in this factory." said a voice that belonged to the man walking toward us. The man had long and messy brown hair and what appeared to be a bit of a beard as well. I knew this man very well. He goes by the name Char, and he seems to be the one in charge of the Guild itself.

"We've been using our memories to give life to things that were once simple objects." Yuri continued.

"Then let's move to the Old Guild. We abandoned it a long time ago." Char added. "There's nothing there but dirt. We can return to the surface from there. Get ready for evacuation"

"And this place?" asked another worker.

"Blow it up. We can't let Angel follow us to the Old Guild, that's about the only place we have left to go back to." Char answered. Suddenly, there was a much louder rumble above our haeds. That isn't good at all.

"She's right above us." I said in realization.

"All you need to take is your memories and your pride as good technicians." Char went on. "Alright, with me?"

"With you!" the workers all said at once.

"Excellent, ready the explosives and show me your teamwork! There aren't any traps left, hurry!" Char said as the others all cheered. As they all scattered to follow orders, I stopped one of the workers, a young man with slicked back purple hair.

"What can I help you with?" he asked.

"I was wondering, how good are you at making shields?" I asked.

"Shields?" the man repeated.

_**…..**_

A while later, Yuri, Yuzuru, and I were climbing back up to where we had entered the Guild from. And wouldn't you know it, Angel was walking in our direction.

"Get ready guys, here she comes!" I said.

"Let's do it!" yuri saidf as she and Yuzuru began to fire of Angel. One bullet managed to hit her in the leg and she knelled down in response.

"Guard Skill, Distortion." Angel's voice sounded hollow as she uttered those words. Immediately, the others began to fire even more at her. I noticed that the bullet that had hit her leg had actually pulled itself out and clattered to the ground.

"She's responding too quickly." Yuri exclaimed. I stepped forward and held my arm, out to prevent them from firing anymore. "Huh? Makoto?"

"I'll take care of this. I'm the only one that can match her, after all." I replied. I reached into a small satchel on my shoulder and pulled out a pair of silvery disks with a strap on each. I slid each disk on my arm just below my wrist and tightened the straps on them. I moved my arm to test out the flexibility and smiled. "Guard Skill, Hand Sonic…" The familiar blades materialized under my shields and gleamed a silvery color.

"Wait, are those shields?" Yuzuru asked. I nodded in return.

"I had the guys fix these up quickly before I came up here." I replied. I then charged forward towards Angel and started to strike at the air in front of her, knowing that she can't attack while Distortion is active. I leaped back and waited for her to make a move. She jumped up and activated Hand Sonic as well and ran towards me. I took advantage of my new shields and blocked her first attack with ease. I then countered with a hit of my own strike and managed to get a hit in on her shoulder. Angel stumbled back but immediately ran forward again and got a good hit in my arm too.

"Guard Skill, Delay…" Angel muttered. I instantly tried to slice at her again, but I was too late as Angel simply vanished and reappeared mere inches away from where she just was. She then followed up with another attack that I barely had time to dodge.

"Guard Skill, Delay…" I muttered in response. I then vanished and reappeared just as she tried to attack me again. The second I reappeared, I tried my own hand at an attack, but Angel simply reappeared to the side. It soon became a long cycle of attack, vanish, reappear, attack, vanish, reappear as we both tried to hit the other. I finally managed to out-speed Angel and hit her right in the stomach. Angel stumbled back, which gave me the opportunity to hit her again with the blunt end of my shields, knocking her back onto the ground.

"That's amazing, Makoto!" Yuri exclaimed. "You're actually beating her!" Suddenly, Angel leaped up and started to attack me as I just then noticed it. She was slashing furiously at me while I tried my best to use my shields to keep myself from turning into ribbons. As she was rearing back for another strike, I spun and thrust my arm forward and hit Angel extra hard with the blunt end of my left shield, sending her onto the ground and rolling for a bit. Then, I heard a buzzer in the background. I already knew what was about to happen next and ran back to where Yuri and Yuzuru were.

"Get out of the way!" a voice shouted from behind us. A huge, and I mean HUGE cannon was rising up behind us via a rising platform and aiming straight at Angel.

"Guys, you're amazing when you want to be." Yuri said happily. "It's not easy to make something like that. Otonashi, Makoto, over here." The three of us ran for a safe spot while the cannon was finished aiming at its target. As we made it into a covered area, there was a huge explosion behind us and when the smoke had died down a bit, we saw that the cannon wasn't even there, and Angel was still on the ground. "Did it work?"

"The cannon exploded…" a worker said.

"I guess we can't make stuff we don't know about." Said another worker.

"Gee, you think!" Yuri said sarcastically.

Angel's getting up!" yuzuru shouted. Everyone then pulled out small sticks that were immediately thrown at Angel. Upon hitting the ground, each of these objects exploded violently and served as cover while the workers all fled into the tunnel we were in.

"Everyo9ne has evacuated the area!" someone shouted.

"Great… Blow up the Guild!" Char replied as he looked over at Yuri. "you sure?"

"Do it." Yuri replied. Char nodded and activated the detonator. Immediately, a faint rumble could be felt and heard beneath us as the explosives were set off. Afterwards, we all ran and followed the tunnel to the Old Guild. After a few minutes, we had arrived and we all looked around at the old place.

"I haven't been here in ages, there's really nothing here." Char said as he looked around.

"One little nudge and you'll have all the dirt you need to rebuild." Yuri said.

"It's a horrible hideout." Char said in return.

"Looks like I'll still be counting on you." Yuri added.

"Okay, let's get to work you guys!" Char exclaimed. The workers cheered as they all ran off to get started. Yuri then took out the walkie-talkie she used for communicating with the others and started talking into it.

"Hey guys, are you up yet? We abandoned the Guild and blew it up with Angel. Attention everyone, report to the Old Guild, we'll quickly restock on our supplies there. Report to the Old Guild before Angel recovers. Hurry up you idiots! Yuri out!" Yuri put the device away and smiled as she helped the others by issuing orders to the Guild workers. Well, that puts an end to this mission, but I knew that this was far from over.

"She really is a good leader." I remarked. Yuzuru looked over at me and chuckled.

"I was thinking the same thing, actually." He replied.

_**…..**_

_** Epilogue**_

_** …...**_

It was a few days later, I was getting used to the whole notion of cutting class all day and decided to go for a walk around the campus. When I passed by the vending machine, I did what any other person at this school would do; I bought a can of Key Coffee. I sipped the drink as I walked along and after a while, I saw something that caught me off guard and at the same time felt normal. I saw Angel a few feet away, just minding her own business. I decided that this would be a better time than any to put my plan into action.

"It's now or never." I mumbled as I finished the last of the Key Coffee and tossed the can into a nearby trash bin before making my way over to Angel. When she saw me coming her way, she turned to me and stared at me in her usual emotionless manner. Yet her eyes also had a coldness to them, no doubt from the whole thing back in the Guild. I held up my hands to show her that I came in peace and she seemed to calm down a little.

"Is there something that I can help you with?" she asked. "Or are you not satisfied with the results of our fight?"

"I'm not here to fight, I just wanna' talk." I said calmly.

"What is there to talk about?" Angel asked.

"I know what you are-what you _really_ are-and I have a deal in mind." I replied.

"A deal?" Angel asked.

"Yeah, if we team up, then we can probably help the others understand this place more. Don't get me wrong, I'm still on their side, but I have my reasons for siding with you too." I explained. "This can work out for all of us. What do you say?" I extend my hand to her and wait. After a moment, she slowly extended her hand as well and shook mine in hers.

"What are your reasons for doing this?" Angel asked. I shook my head in response.

"That'll have to remain a secret." I replied. "Now, if we ever come across each other while the others are around, then we need to make sure that they don't suspect anything. Basically, we act like we're enemies."

"It makes sense." Angel replied. I was about to walk off when I turned around as I remembered something.

"Oh, and one more thing." I added. "This may seem odd, but… I'll need to borrow your computer soon. I'll let you know when exactly I do, but just keep that in mind for now." After adding that, I walked off and began forming a new plan of action in my head.


	3. Chapter 3: My Song

Angel Beats: The Tale Reborn

Chapter 3: My Song

It was another fine afternoon in the Afterlife. We were all hanging out in the headquarters. Iwasawa had pitched the idea of a new song she and GirlDeMo could use for a future operation. I already knew the song she was talking about, and when she had actually played it, you can imagine how much I had to keep myself from going into nerd mode. After Iwasawa had finished, there was a bit of silence before Yuri spoke up.

"Why is your new song a ballad?" Yuri asked.

"Is that a problem?" Iwasawa asked.

"As a diversion, yes." Yuri replied. Yuzuru raised his hand at the reply.

"Uh, what do you mean as a diversion?" he asked.

"Didn't you hear her during Tornado? She has a school rock band that's popular with the normal students." Yuri replied. "We don't do anything to directly hurt the students, but sometimes we use them, or…clear them out of an area if they're in the way. It's just one of the necessary tactics in our battle arsenal. That's when she creates a diversion."

"So they're fans even though they're NPC's?" Yuzuru asked.

"That just goes to show you how charming her band is." Hinata replied.

"I can agree with that one hundred percent." I said with a chuckle.

"Uh… Yeah." Yuzuru said.

"So, is it a no-go?" Iwasawa asked.

"Yeah." Yuri replied with a hint of sadness in her voice. "And because it's a ballad we can't go all out and fight if everyone's listening to some love song."

"I see… Then I'll trash it." Iwasawa said as she sat back down.

"I have an announcement that'll make everyone feel better." Yuri said after a few seconds. "Otonashi, close the curtains." Yuzuru nodded and after he had done so, the room prepared itself for another briefing. "This next operation will be another attempt to infiltrate Angel's domain. The operation is in three days." Takamatsu sighed.

"We're trying that again? But last time we-" He began but was quickly cut off by Yuri.

"Last time we didn't have Makoto." Yuri replied. "Since he's already been inside Angel's lair, and he knows it's' secrets, he can lead us there himself. That, and this time we've got him with us." Yuri turned to the side to reveal a boy a year younger than me with short reddish brown hair and a pair of glasses that gave off an eerie gleam.

"Hello there." Said the boy. There were a number of reactions from the others, mainly the guys.

"So how is that moron going to help us?" Fujimaki asked.

"Now, now, don't be like that." Yuri replied. I saw Noda get that look in his eye and he grinned madly.

"Alright then, let's see what he's got!" Noda said as he pointed his axe at the boy.

"You don't have any friends, do you?" Yuzuru asked. The boy smirked and inhaled deeply before speaking. He began saying the full number for pi as Noda stumbled back and fell to the ground. Just as I thought, Noda's worst enemy: numbers.

"Holy math nerds! Is all that pi?" Matsushita exclaimed.

"M-Make him stop, he's a moron!" Oyama said.

"Exactly, our weakness is that we're morons." Yuri replied.

"You shouldn't say that." Yuzuru added.

"Last time we tried to infiltrate our lack of intelligence was made apparent." Yuri continued. "But this time, we're bringing a genius hacker with us. Codename: Takeyama will be on the team. Be sure to fully investigate the area, and don't miss a thing."

"Wasn't that his real name?" Hinata asked.

"Yes! But I would much appreciate it if you called me "Christ"." Takeyama replied. Oh, geez, not this crap.

"So, what is Angel's domain?" Yuzuru asked.

"It's Angel's lair." Hinata corrected.

"What do you mean Angel's lair?" Yuzuru asked.

"Her core system is controlled by a computer." Hinata replied.

"Wait! So it's mechanical?" Yuzuru asked in shock.

"She has a way to contact God in there somewhere." Yuri added.

"This operation is crazy!" Oyama said.

"It'll be our second try. Angel should be at a higher alert than before." Yuri added. "I'll need GirlDeMo to go wild, is that understood?"

"Understood." Iwasawa said with a smile.

"Goodbye and good luck." TK said in his usual strange way. After a few more minutes, we all decided to end the briefing and a few of us left for varying reasons.

_**….**_

_**CRASH!**_

A small tree fell down onto the ground, shortening it a significant amount to being just a stump. I backed up and wiped the sweat off my brow.

"Whew, that was pretty simple." I said. I had discovered that there was a small forest surrounding the school, and I decided to take the opportunity to practice my fighting skills, especially since the operation starts tomorrow. You never know, just saying. "Although… It'll be pretty hard to get the hang of using Hand Sonic in combat, since my hands are the actual weapons." I stopped and thought for a moment. "But then again, I've used a lot of different weapons back in my life. I could always use some of the things I've learned to help me. Let's see… Oh! I've used a pair of Katar before, that's pretty close to these blades…"

I nodded to myself and ran at another tree, readying the blades on my hands as I leaped upward and spun in midair as I got close enough to the tree. My actions caused the tree to be sliced into multiple segments, each one falling to the ground with a thud. I landed gracefully on my feet and looked at my handiwork with a smirk.

"Hmmm… Not bad." I looked over at the numerous amounts of other trees that I had "practiced" on before and shrugged. "I doubt they'll miss them. And besides, they're supposed to be able to grow back after a while from what Yuri told me." I chuckled to myself before "stowing" the Hand Sonic blades and walking out of the forest. From the looks of it, I was near one of the student buildings. I heard a familiar sound coming from one of the upper floors of the building. It was a soft yet distinct strumming of a guitar. My curiosity getting the better of me, I headed for the entrance and made my way towards the sound.

As I got closer, I could also hear lyrics being sung. I immediately recognized the voice of the one singing and when I got to the room that was the source of the music, my suspicions were confirmed. Inside the classroom was Iwasawa, although, the rest of GirlDeMo wasn't with her. It was just her, and she was playing a soft and melodic tune on a simple guitar. I didn't say anything; rather I just stood by the door and listened to Iwasawa's playing.

"_Iradachi o doko ni butsukeru ka sagashiteru aida ni owaru hi  
Sora wa haiiro o shite sono saki wa nani mo mienai  
Joushiki butteru yatsu ga waratteru tsugi wa donna uso o iu?  
Sore de erareta mono daiji ni kazatte okeru no?  
Demo asu e to susumanakya naranai  
Dakara kou utau yo_

Naiteru kimi koso kodoku na kimi koso  
Tadashii yo ningen rashii yo  
Otoshita namida ga kou iu yo  
Konna ni mo utsukushii uso ja nai hontou no bokura o arigatou…"

Iwasawa must have sensed I was there, because she stopped and looked over at the doorway. "You can come out now." I chuckled and stepped into view.

"Sorry, I was just passing through and my curiosity got to me." I apologized, rubbing the back of my head.

"It's cool." Iwasawa replied as she put her guitar down. "Come on in." I nodded and entered the classroom.

"You know, you're really good." I said. "It's no wonder why people like you so much."

"Thanks." Iwasawa replied. "You know, Otonashi said the same thing yesterday."

I chuckled at her response. "Did he now?" I asked, already knowing that what she said was true.

"So, what did you think?" Iwasawa asked.

"Huh?" I replied.

"The song, I mean." Iwasawa added, clarifying what she meant.

"Oh. It was good." I replied. "Are you sure you're okay with not being able to play it tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I mean to be honest, Yuri had a point." Iwasawa said. "Why do you ask?"

"Well… To be honest, I already know about your past." I replied.

"Oh, I see." Iwasawa said. "What was your past like, Makoto? I don't think I've heard it yet."

"Well, my life wasn't that bad really." I replied with a shrug. "I grew up in an orphanage since I was a baby, I never really knew my real family. But nonetheless I managed to live a pretty normal life. Then on New Year's Eve when I was seventeen, I just made the right choice at the wrong time under the wrong conditions. And that about sums it up."

"To be honest, your life doesn't sound all that bad." Iwasawa said. "But why are you here in the afterlife then? I thought this place was just for people with bad lives." If only she knew.

"Oh, right. I forgot you're a psychic with all sorts of info on this place." Iwasawa said with a laugh. I joined in for a few seconds then got more serious.

"That song of yours… When I heard you play it, you did it with such passion." I said. "You totally put yourself into it. You could even call it your song."

"My Song, huh?" Iwasawa asked. "I like the sound of that."

"You know, I think you should play that song tomorrow." I said.

"You heard Yuri, orders are orders." Iwasawa replied.

"Yeah, and I'm not saying you should go against orders but…" I said as I started to walk off. "…You never know what'll happen." Satisfied with that, I left the classroom and decided to get some Key Coffee.

After I got my coffee first of all I was instantly in a good mood. And secondly, I decided to take a walk around the campus. And wouldn't you know it, I came across Angel while roaming the halls of one of the classroom buildings. She was standing in front of one of the bulletin boards covered with GirlDeMo posters. She was taking them down by the looks of it. A few students had gathered around as well and were objecting to Angel's actions.

"Let it slide this one time Prez." A male student said.

"Yeah. GirlDeMo performances are the only thing we have to look forward to!" a female student objected.

"Don't steal them from us!" the first male student added.

"Yeah, you heard him, right?" a third student said. While the students were talking amongst themselves, I had walked over to Angel, who had finished taking the posters down.

"Hey." I said.

"Hello." Angel said in her usual emotionless tone. We started walking down the hall. After a while, Angel finally spoke up. "It's like I'm the bad guy."

"C'mon, don't let them get to you." I said. "They may not be human like you and I, but they're still high school students, so of course they'll be like that."

"Why are you here right now?" Angel asked.

"What can I say?" I replied. "I was in the neighborhood and decided to drop by."

"Oh…" Angel said, still showing no emotion.

"I really probably shouldn't tell you this, but there's more to this concert than you think." I said hesitantly.

"What do you mean?" Angel asked.

"That'll be a secret for now." I said. I chugged down the rest of my coffee and tossed the can in a nearby trash bin before walking off.

_**….**_

It was the next day, the day of the operation. We were all in the headquarters for a last minute briefing.

"Listen up; we're taking as few people with us as possible." Yuri said. "The operation starts at 19: 00. Operation; start!" Iwasawa left immediately after the briefing to set up for the performance. Yuri had the infiltration team consist of her, myself, Yuzuru, Hinata, Matsushita, Noda, and of course Takeyama. When we got to Angel's dorm, Hinata picked the lock and we got in flawlessly.

"Excellent. Infiltration was a success." Yuri whispered.

"Huh?" Yuzuru asked.

"We've infiltrated Angel's domain. Close the door." Yuri quickly replied. Yuzuru closed the door and just stood by it in a clueless fashion.

"Takeyama, you take care of the computer end of things." Yuri added.

"Please call me "Christ"." Takeyama replied. Suddenly, the lights in the dorm turned on.

"Hey, wait a minute! We're going through a girl's things! This is a crime!" Yuzuru exclaimed. "And it's creepy!"

"I should have warned them…" I said with a sigh.

"Jerkl! What were you thinking?" Hinata said.

"This is the girl's dorm, kill the lights!" Matsushita shouted before turning the lights off again.

"And it's controlled by a computer? There's just a laptop." Yuzuru went on.

"Trust me man, there's a lot more to this laptop than meets the eye." I replied with a smirk that was hidden by the darkness. "That goes for all of you, too." The screen of the computer showed a box requesting a password.

"A password?" Takeyama asked with what I thought to be amusement.

"None of us could ever figure it out." Yuri replied. Takeyama placed a laptop of his own on the desk and started it up before taking a cable and hooking it up to Angel's computer and his.

"I see. Then I guess it's time to show my stuff." Takeyama replied. "I'm going to crack the code." Yuzuru tried to stop Takeyama from doing his thing, but it took the combined efforts of Matsushita and Noda to keep him back. Suddenly, a thought formed in my head.

"Hey guys, I'm going to go see if the diversion's going well." I said. "You don't really need me right now anyways."

"Good idea, Makoto. Just make sure to keep in contact if anything happens, got it?" Yuri replied. I nodded as she handed me an extra earpiece.

"Sure thing." I replied as I placed the earpiece into my ear and snuck out of the dorm once more.

_**….**_

By the time I got to the gym where the performance was, the girls had already finished up Crow Song and were partway through Alchemy. I heard a few shouts from behind me after a few minutes.

"That's enough, kids!" A teacher shouted. "Get back to your dorm rooms!"

"No way, I gotta' see this show!" a student replied.

"Yeah totally, why don't you go!" another student added. Luckily I had prepared for this and managed to find Yusa off in a corner.

"Huh? Oh, you're Makoto right?" Yusa asked.

"Yep, that's right. We need to contact Yuri ASAP." I said. She nodded as I turned on my earpiece. "Hey, Yuri, it's Makoto. We've got a problem here in the gym. The teachers are here, and I know already that things are gonna' get ugly."

"Is Angel there yet?" Yuri asked from the other end. I looked over at the door the teachers had burst through to see Angel walking in.

"Just got here." I replied.

"Okay, try and buy as much time as you can." Yuri instructed. "Takeyama is still trying to decrypt the password on Angel's computer."

"Got it, we'll do what we can." I replied.

"Okay, you and Yusa fill me in as much as you can on the situation." Yuri continued. "And make it a point to let me know when and if Angel leaves the gym."

"Can do." I turned the earpiece off and turned back to Yusa. "She said to keep her updated as much as possible."

"Okay." She replied. I walked off after that and found a good place to lay low and watch the action. The scene quickly went spiraling downwards. Teachers and faculty members alike were flooding into the gym to try and stop the performance. After a while, the faculty had managed to gain control of the situation, having gotten onto the stage and pretty much suppressed everyone (except for me, since I was in hiding). I could just barely see Yusa hiding in another nearby area covered in shadows, catching a small movement of her lips. I imagine that she had warned Yuri of the situation. The gym was filled with the sounds of shouting and complaining from the NPC's as the teachers kept them held back.

"Don't get full of yourselves because we've overlooked you until now!" One of the teachers snapped. "Confiscate all their instruments!" From my spot I could see Kanade turning around and walking out the door again. "Wrap all this crap up. The only time you get to play is during school festivals." He began walking towards one thing in particular. He bent down and picked up Iwasawa's guitar by the neck. "Hmph, we can throw this away can't we?"

"Don't you touch that…" Iwasawa said softly. "Don't… Don't touch that!" In a burst of furious movement, she had broken out of the grip of the teacher holding her and ran towards the first teacher. She leaped forward and slammed into him, causing him to lose grip of the instrument. Hisako managed to break free too and started running off in another direction. The teachers were shouting and running after her, but Sekine tripped them from where she lay on the ground.

Iwasawa was literally backed up against a wall as a few teachers surrounded her. I stood up and looked straight at Iwasawa. She met my gaze and I gave a small nod, hoping she would get the message. She seemed to understand as she raised her arm holding the pick and began to lightly strum the guitar she held. After a few more seconds, she began to sing as well.

"_Joushiki butteru yatsu ga waratteru tsugi wa donna uso o iu?  
Sore de erareta mono daiji ni kazatte okeru no?  
Demo asu e to susumanakya naranai  
Dakara kou utau yo…"_

Honestly, I couldn't believe my ears. I'm not sure if it's because of the situation or what, but this time around, the song was more passionate in nature, Iwasawa had made the song an expression of who she is. This really was _her _song._  
"Naiteru kimi koso kodoku na kimi koso  
Tadashii yo ningen rashii yo  
Otoshita namida ga kou iu yo  
Konna ni mo utsukushii uso ja nai hontou no bokura o arigatou…"_

The song went into a small solo and as the music got gradually slower, I knew what would happen next. I saw Iwasawa look right at me and smile. She then slowly closed her eyes as the song ended and fell to the ground as if she were exhausted. But before she could even touch the floor, she began to fade into thin air until she had disappeared completely. The guitar landed on the ground with a small thud, and then there was utter silence. Even the teachers were utterly shocked at what just happened.

I stood up and quietly walked out of the room where I saw Angel doing the same thing. Guess she came back when she heard the song.

"I take it you saw what happened." Angel said.

"Yep." I replied. "But to be honest, I already knew it would." Angel seemed to be confused by this.

"But… If you knew it would happen, then couldn't you have stopped it?" she asked.

"I guess. But like I said the other day when I proposed this alliance, I have my reasons for the things I do here." I replied. "By the way, the others might think you'll have had something to do with this. Just thought I'd let you know. But I already know how this world works, so I guess in a way, you did have something to do with this." I walked off after that. Once I was outside the gym, I turned on the earpiece and spoke into it.

"Hey, Yuri, it's me again." I said. "A few things have happened since Sekine got in contact with you."

"Like what?" Yuri asked.

"Well, it's about Iwasawa…" I began.

_**….**_

"Okay, can you please give us the down-low on what we found?" Hinata asked the next morning. Yuri paced back and forth in thought.

"Angel has been developing her own abilities." Yuri replied, still partially in thought. "She's using the same method we're using to make our weapons."

"What does that mean?" Oyama asked.

"…I'm not sure." Yuri replied. "I can't say anything for certain."

"Why not?" Fujimaki asked. "You're being a little too vague, Yurippe."

"What do you have to say about the situation, Makoto?" Hinata asked.

"I'll be happy to tell you guys more in a bit." I replied. "After all, Angel's abilities are my abilities."

"And here's another problem." Takamatsu chimed in, placing down Iwasawa's guitar for emphasis. "Where did Iwasawa go…?"

"Didn't Angel Obliterate her?" Noda asked.

"During a performance?" Hinata asked doubtfully.

"Then what do you think happened?" Noda asked in return.

"So who kidnapped Iwasawa and-" Oyama began.

"No one did." Yuri replied simply. "She accepted her fate. That's all there is to it." Everyone looked at me again, hoping to get some more info out of me.

"Like I said, I'll tell you guys later." I replied. "For now, I'll say this much; there's more to "Obliteration" than you think." I stood up and left the office, heading out to the forest to practice some more. Well, now for the next phase…


End file.
